Yellowfang's Secret/Chapter 9
Chapter summary :Yellowpaw is made a warrior by Cedarstar, along with her siblings, Nutpaw and Rowanpaw. Their names are changed to Yellowfang, Nutwhisker, and Rowanberry, signaling their departure from apprenticehood. They are all excited, and Rowanberry says that they'll be the best warriors that ShadowClan has ever seen. Brightflower and Brackenfoot stare proudly at their children, and Deerleap nods at Yellowfang in approval. Foxpaw, envious of the new warriors, says that she and Wolfpaw will be warriors soon. Yellowfang ignores her, saying that whether or not she's a warrior, she is still a pain in the tail. :Scorchwind, made a warrior a moon before, comes over to congratulate the new warriors, then goes to stand by Raggedpelt. Yellowfang notes that she is disappointed that Raggedpelt isn't even looking at her, and decides its because he's ashamed that Yellowfang was present when Hal rejected him. She wishes she could tell Raggedpelt that all her anger is directed toward Hal, but she decides not to. :Sagewhisker then comes up and congratulates Yellowfang, then asks if she dreamed of serving her Clan as a warrior when she went to the Moonstone with Deerleap. Yellowfang is taken aback, and because she doesn't want to tell Sagewhisker what happened, she says that she doesn't remember the dream. Sagewhisker gazes at her persistently, and tells Yellowfang it must be hard to forget her first Moonstone dream. Yellowfang says that if she didn't remember, it must not be that important, then stomps away to the fresh-kill pile. :Yellowfang goes on a border patrol with Hollyflower, Newtspeck, and Toadskip. As they pass Twolegplace , Yellowfang recalls the events with Raggedpelt, and thinks she never wants to go near it again. Hollyflower then discovers a strange smell, which turns out to be a half-eaten squirrel. Yellowfang scents Twolegplace on the prey, and Hollyflower splits apart the patrol to try and find the cat who had stolen it. Yellowfang sniffs along the bottom of a fence to find that the scents of kittypet match with the scents left on the squirrel. Hollyflower tells Toadskip to check the other side of the fence, but he finds nothing. Yellowfang then says that's because kittypets only come out at night. When Newtspeck asks how she knew this, she stammers that one of the elders told her. Hollyflower sends Toadskip and Newtspeck to bury the squirrel, while she and Yellowfang head back to camp to inform Cedarstar. :That night Cedarstar calls a Clan meeting to decide what to do about the kittypets stealing prey. He decides to lead two patrols to Twolegplace: One group with Cedarstar, Yellowfang, Rowanberry, Deerleap, and Raggedpelt, and another with Stonetooth, Scorchwind, Nutwhisker, Newtspeck, and Crowtail. As Yellowfang follows Cedarstar through the brambles, she is nervous that one of the kittypets will recognize her. She tries to catch Raggedpelt's eye, but he deliberately turns away. Once near Twolegplace, Cedarstar orders the patrols to split up and hide, then attack when he gave the signal. Yellowfang crouches in the brambles next to Deerleap and Raggedpelt. She notes that she is embarrassed to be so close to him when he refused to be her friend anymore. :Later in the night, Cedarstar notices two Twolegplace cats slinking along the top of the fence. To her dismay, Yellowfang recognizes one of the cats as Red, whom she had met when she visited Twolegplace with Raggedpelt. As the cats jump into the forest, Cedarstar strides out to tell them to leave. Red doesn't show a trace of fear as she refuses to leave, saying that she doesn't follow Cedarstar's rules. Cedarstar replies that he could make them leave, to which Red's friend says he'd like to see them try. The ShadowClan leader gives the signal for battle, and his warriors rush out to battle. As ShadowClan surrounds Red and the tabby, the tabby shrieks and three more Twolegplace cats leap over the fence. Yellowfang identifies a skinny gray tom as Boulder. :Yellowfang watches as Cedarstar fights with Red, not wanting to join the battle for fear that she might come face-to-face with a cat she recognizes. The ginger she-cat gets her paw stuck in some tree roots, and Cedarstar leaves her there. Yellowfang notes a sharp pain in her own paw, and wonders if she could talk to Red. However, Deerleap appears behind Yellowfang and orders her to attack, so the dark gray she-cat swipes at a ginger tom. Red, now free from the roots, leaps between them and snarls at Yellowfang in fury, clawing her ear. Just then, the rogue seems to remember her, and exclaims that she remembers the ShadowClan warrior. Newtspeck, who overheard, asks Yellowfang what Red means by this, but thankfully the ginger tom attacks Yellowfang again, preventing any more questions. :Raggedpelt then appears and snarls at Red not to say anything about what happened at Twolegplace. Scorchwind strikes Red's shoulder, and she retreats back to the fence. Yellowfang then intercepts a black and white tom from helping Boulder, whom Rowanberry is fighting. Yellowfang feels power in her muscles and swipes, but she also stings all over, as if her pelt had been ripped off. She almost had the tom at the fence when she feels a sudden pressure on her throat, as if some cat were crushing her windpipe. Nutwhisker takes care of the tom while Yellowfang whirls around to see a large tabby pinning Deerleap down by her throat. Yellowfang claws the tabby's flank, allowing Deerleap to escape. The pressure on Yellowfang's throat vanishes, and she hears Cedarstar yowling in victory. She realizes with relief that none of her Clanmates are seriously injured. :On the way back to camp, Yellowfang notices that her paw hurts, yet she can't remember how she injured it. She meets Raggedpelt's eye and states that Red almost gave them away, and that it was a close call. Raggedpelt agrees with her, then stalks away. When Yellowfang tries to follow, her head suddenly starts spinning and she staggers. Deerleap and Cedarstar rush to her side, but the only injuries she has are some scratches. Deerleap supports Yellowfang with her shoulder and says she'll let Sagewhisker have a look. :When Yellowfang eventually sinks down onto the moss in the medicine cat's den, Sagewhisker asks if she was hurt in the battle, to which Deerleap replies she hadn't seen Yellowfang take any bad blows, and that she only had a few scratches, but something was wrong. Sagewhisker tells Deerleap she'll give Yellowfang a thorough checkup, and Deerleap leaves. Sagewhisker sniffs all over Yellowfang and eventually sits down next to her, saying that Yellowfang hardly had a scratch on her. Yellowfang exclaims that she must be injured, because she hurts all over. Sagewhisker asks Yellowfang where she hurts most, to which Yellowfang holds up her paw. Sagewhisker asks if any other cat hurt her paw, and Yellowfang tells Sagewhisker that Red got her paw tangled in a tree root, but that had nothing to do with her. Yellowfang mentions her ear next, which felt like it had been shredded off. Sagewhisker stated that it was still quite untouched, and asks if Yellowfang saw any other cat with an ear injury. Yellowfang then remembers Boulder's ear, torn and trickling blood down his face. :Sagewhisker also asks about the pain in Yellowfang's flank, prompting her to say she saw Cedarstar fall against a tree stump. Sagewhisker said that she'd need to see him about that, and Yellowfang asks if Sagewhisker was going to treat her injuries. The medicine cat replies that she'd already said Yellowfang isn't injured, and states that Yellowfang is feeling pain from other cats' injuries. The dark gray warrior asks how this could be possible, to which Sagewhisker replies she doesn't know, but that this wasn't the first time it has happened. Yellowfang recalls other incidents where similar things occurred, and agrees that it's happened before. Yellowfang tries to find an explanation, saying that it isn't hard to see an injury and imagine how it feels, but Sagewhisker states that these feelings aren't Yellowfang's imagination, and that StarClan had given them to her for a reason. Yellowfang doesn't want to hear it, and struggles to her aching paws to leave the den, saying that she doesn't want to be different, she just wants to be a warrior. Characters Major }} Minor *Nutwhisker *Rowanberry *Deerleap *Scorchwind *Raggedpelt *Sagewhisker *Hollyflower *Newtspeck *Toadskip *Red *Boulder *Unnamed ginger tom *Unnamed black-and-white tom }} Mentioned *Brackenfoot *Foxpaw *Wolfpaw *Stonetooth *Crowtail *Hal }} Ceremonies Notes and references Category:Chapter subpages Category:Yellowfang's Secret Category:Super Edition arc